ARLINGTON, Va. — Construction of the U.S. Navy’s next-generation guided-missile frigate (FFG) is to take begin later this month, a Navy admiral said. 

“[Regarding] the FFG 62 Constellation class, we’re going to start bending metal later this month,” said Rear Adm. Fred Pyle, director, Surface Warfare Division in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, speaking Aug. 18 at the Surface Navy Association’s Waterfront 2022 West Coast symposium. “That’s a success story. This frigate is going to bring DDG-like capability. We need to build small surface combatants in numbers [and] get this fighting frigate to sea. So, we’re excited about the Constellation-class frigate.” 

Three Constellation-class FFGs—Constellation (FFG 62), Congress (FFG 63), and Chesapeake (FFG 64) currently are on order. In June, the Navy exercised a contract option to order to build FFG 64 from Wisconsin-based Fincantieri Marinette Marine, the ship’s builder.  

The Marinette Marine shipyard is currently working on the detailed design for the future USS Constellation.  

The Navy has a requirement for 20 frigates. Marinette Marine is now under contract for the first three FFGs with options for seven more.  

The Constellation class FFG is based largely on the Italian FREMM frigate, but with a longer hull and features modified to meet U.S. Navy standards on reliability, survivability, maintainability, habitability and lethality. The 496-foot-long steel ship will displace 7,300 tons and have a beam of 64.6 feet and a draft of 18 feet. It will be powered by a combination diesel electric and gas turbine propulsion system. 

The FFG will feature a Mk41 Vertical Launching System, canister-launched Naval Strike Missiles, Mk110 57 mm gun, RAM Mk49 launcher, CAPTAS-4 variable-depth sonar, TB-37 Multi-Function Towed Array, SQQ-89(V)16 undersea combat system, SLQ-25E Nixie, SLQ-32(V)6 SEWIP Block 2, SPY-6(V)3 FFG Radar, Aegis Baseline 10 combat system, one MH-60R helicopter, one MQ-8C, and two 7-meter rigid-hull inflatable boats. Delivery of Constellation is anticipated for 2026.

ARLINGTON, Va. — The Defense Department has increased the ceiling for its contract for Lot 15 Joint Strike Fighters to 129, the department said in an Aug. 12 release.  

The Naval Air Systems Command awarded Lockheed Martin a not-to-exceed $7.63 billion firm-fixed-price, fixed-price incentive (firm target), un-definitized modification to a previously awarded advanced acquisition contract, the Defense Department said in the release. The modification increases the contract ceiling to procure 129 F-35s. 

Of the 129 F-35s, the total includes three F-35Bs and 10 F-35Cs for the U.S. Marine Corps and 10 F-35Cs for the U.S. Navy. The numbers notionally will enable the Navy and Marine Corps each to add one F-35C squadron to its force structure. 

The total also includes 49 F-35As for the U.S. Air Force; 32 F-35As and four F-35Bs for non-U.S. program partners; and 16 F-35As for Foreign Military Sales customers. The contract also includes 69 shipsets of hardware.   

The Navy currently has two F-35C fleet squadrons on strength, while the Marine Corps has one. The Corps also fields five fleet F-35B squadrons. 

Work on the contract is expected to be completed in October 2024. 

ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Navy has awarded two contracts totaling $1.4 billion for the detailed design and construction of three ships to be built by General Dynamics NASSCO in San Diego: two fleet replenishment oilers and one expeditionary sea base ship. 

The Naval Sea Systems Command awarded General Dynamics National Steel and Shipbuilding Co. (NASSCO) an $890 million contract modification for detailed design and construction of the seventh and eighth John Lewis-class fleet replenishment oilers T-AO 211 and 212, according to an Aug. 4 Defense Department contract announcement. The company also was awarded a $535 million contract modification for detailed design and construction of Lewis B. Buller-class expeditionary sea base (ESB) 8, the sixth ship of the class. 

The T-AO contract modification also includes an option for the detail design and construction of T-AO 213 which, if exercised would bring the cumulative value of that contract modification to $1.63 billion. 

In June, the Naval Sea Systems Command awarded NASSCO a $500 million contract modification for long-lead-time material in support of the T-AO 211 and 212, according to a June 28 Defense Department contract announcement. The company also was awarded a $100 million contract modification for long-lead-time material in support of ESB 8. 

On July 27, NASSCO delivered to the Navy the lead ship of the new 742-foot-long, 49,850-ton fleet oiler class, the John Lewis (T-AO 205). Three more T-AOs are under construction — the future USNS Harvey Milk (T-AO 206), the future USNS Earl Warren (T-AO 207), and the future USNS Robert F. Kennedy (T-AO 208) — and four, T-AO 209 through 212, are under contract. The oilers each will have a fuel capacity of 157,000 barrels of oil as well as other dry stores to replenish ships at sea. 

The Lewis B. Puller-class ESB is a development of the Montford Point-class mobile landing platform ship. The 784-foot-long ESB is equipped with a 52,000 square-foot flight deck that can handle H-1, H-53 and H-53 helicopters and V-22 tilt-rotor aircraft. The ship is a capable platform to support mine-countermeasures missions, special operations forces, patrol boat support and unmanned systems. 

Three ESBs are serving in the fleet — USS Lewis B. Puller (ESB 3), USS Hershel “Woody” Williams (ESB 4) and the USS Miguel Keith (ESB 5) — and two more, the future USNS John L. Canley and USNS Robert E. Simanek (ESB 7), are under construction. 

NASSCO said the construction of the three newly contracted ships is planned for third quarter of 2023 and continue into 2027. The company sees the contracts as helpful in sustaining and growing its workforce. 

ARLINGTON, Va. — The Defense Department will deploy a hospital ship to the U.S. Southern Command region during the fall of 2022, the department said.  

“The Department of Defense plans to deploy the United States Naval Ship Comfort, a Mercy-class hospital ship, to conduct medical assistance in support of regional partners in the fall of 2022,” the release said. “During each port visit, the USNS Comfort typically provides medical assistance to about 3,500-8,000 people.” 

The initiative is one of several the department announced in the wake of the XV Conference of Defense Ministers of the Americas (CDMA), which convened on July 25-29, 2022, in Brasilia, Brazil. 

“CDMA is the premier hemispheric defense ministerial for strategic-level engagement with the top defense officials of the Americas, and convenes every two years,” the release said.  

The USNS Comfort, one of two hospital ships operated by the Military Sealift Command, last visited the region in 2019, prior to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. It provided medical care in 12 nations in Central America, South America, and the Caribbean.  

“The Department of Defense is committed to its role as the most trusted defense ally and partner for its neighbors to the north and south, building on its longstanding cooperation across a range of areas to foster mutual security throughout the Western Hemisphere,” the department said.  

The Comfort’s sister ship, USNS Mercy, currently is deployed to the Western Pacific region as a participant in the Pacific Partnership humanitarian assistance effort. 

The U.S. Navy is procuring medical versions of the Austal-built expeditionary fast transport ship to provide medical care for military operations and humanitarian care and disaster relief. 

NORTHAMPTON, Mass. — The U.S. Navy exercised an option on a previously awarded L3Harris Technologies’ contract to produce enhanced submarine imaging masts and spares, the company said July 27.  

L3Harris will provide two configurations of its Type 20 low-profile mast to meet the Navy’s operational requirements. Production will be performed at L3Harris’ Northampton, Massachusetts, facility, with initial deliveries scheduled to begin in 2024.  

As the world’s largest submarine imaging system provider, L3Harris delivers precise, high-resolution optics and integrated sensor packages.  

The Type 20 mast is a modular non-hull-penetrating imaging sensor that uses a telescoping universal modular mast to deliver improved high-definition visual imaging capabilities. 

“The Type 20 low-profile mast is the next-generation imaging mast that will provide enhanced capabilities to the Virginia- and Columbia-class submarines,” said Rosemary Chapdelaine, president, Maritime, L3Harris. “Under this contract, we will deliver technology advancements to support the U.S. Navy’s mission and operational requirements, which will enable the users to see and control the submarine integrated imaging systems.” 

ARLINGTON, Va. — The Marine Corps has authorized water operations of its new Amphibious Combat Vehicle, but only in protected waters, Headquarters Marine Corps said July 26. 

“On July 22, after initial review of the factors involved in the July 19 ACV incident, Headquarters Marine Corps authorized ACV water operations in protected waters only (Area 21, Del Mar Boat Basin) to sustain ACV crew proficiency and meet entry-level training requirements,” said Capt. Ryan Bruce, media officer at Headquarters Marine Corps, in the release. “ACV operations remain suspended for open ocean and surf.” 

The Marine Corps suspended ACV water operations on July 20 after a July 19 training incident at Camp Pendleton, California. There were no injuries to the Marine and Sailors on board the ACVs involved.  

“This is the right thing to do,” Lt. Gen. David J. Furness, deputy commandant of the Marine Corps for Plans, Policies, and Operations, said in announcing the pause on July 20. “A pause on ACV waterborne operations will give us time to conduct an investigation, learn from this event, and ensure our assault amphibian community remains ready to support our nation.”

“ACV land operations, to include live fire ranges, remain authorized,” Bruce said. 

The ACV, built by BAE Systems, is replacing the AAV7 assault amphibious vehicle and its variants in Marine Corps amphibious assault battalions.  

ARLINGTON, Va. — The update to the chief of naval operation’s Navigation Plan incorporates the Navy’s Force Design 2045 ship and aircraft force level goals for 2045, a hybrid fleet in which manned ships will remain dominant but supplemented by significant numbers of unmanned systems. 

The NAVPLAN, released July 26, has been informed by recent fleet exercises, including IMX-22 held by Task Force 59 earlier this year and the Rim of the Pacific exercises, CNO Adm. Michael Gilday, now in his third year in office, said during a July 26 roundtable with reporters.  

The plan complies with the National Defense Strategy and the CNO’s priorities on Sailors, readiness, capability and capacity.  

“The Navy must be capable of controlling the seas to deter aggression against our allies and partners, and project power ashore as an integral part of the Joint Force,” the CNO says in the NAVPLAN. “The Navy will incorporate our force design imperatives — distance, deception, defense, distribution, delivery, and decision advantage — to effectively integrate with the joint force, deliver effects across all domains and defeat adversary forces in conflict.

“To accomplish this, the Navy must become a hybrid fleet. Manned, multi-mission platforms will remain at the core of our future fleet but augmented with new platforms and new capabilities. We will add to our current fleet a host of manned, unmanned and optionally manned platforms operating under, on, and above the seas. This future fleet will deliver an assured strategic deterrent; greater numbers of undersea capabilities; a mix of large and small modern surface combatants; and a resilient logistics enterprise that can sustain our distributed naval force.” 

Gilday said the future fleet would require a 3% to 5% annual increase in the Navy’s budget, noting that the shipbuilding request of $27 billion is the highest ever but also affirming that a long time will be required to build up the size of the fleet to meet the goals in 2045. 

“I think it’s going to take a couple of decades to yield that hybrid fleet that we think that we ultimately need in order to fight the way we think we want to fight in a distributed manner, leveraging networking like JADC2 and the effort that we have ongoing with Overmatch,” Gilday said. “All that is going to take time. I’m being realistic. We don’t have the capacity in the industrial base to pump out that number of ships in a short period of time.”

Force Design 2045 envisions a hybrid fleet of “more than 350 manned ships, 150 large, unmanned surface and subsurface platforms, and approximately 3,000 aircraft,” the plan says, noting the numbers will be refined as the security environment changes. 

The capacity goals of Force Design 2045 include: 

• 12 Columbia-class nuclear-powered ballistic-missile submarines 
• 12 nuclear-powered aircraft carriers 
• 66 nuclear-powered fast-attack and large-payload submarines, continuing with the Virginia class and developing the SSN(X)  
• 96 large surface combatants, including the Flight III Arleigh Burke-class DDG and the DDG(X) 
• 56 small surface combatants, including the Constellation-class FFG 
• 31 large amphibious warships 
• 18 light amphibious warships 
• Approximately 150 unmanned surface and subsurface vessels 
• 82 combat logistic and auxiliary ships  
• Increased expeditionary logistics capacity 
• Approximately 1,300 carrier-based fifth-generation strike fighters and Next-Generation Air Dominance Family of Systems 
• Approximately 900 maritime patrol, reconnaissance, anti-submarine and anti-surface fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft, augmented by unmanned aircraft 
• Approximately 750 intra-theater lift, training, and research and development aircraft. 

“We will augment the force with an evolving complement of thousands of small, rapidly adaptable, and attritable unmanned platforms,” the NAVPLAN says. “These enablers will increase our sensing resilience, persistence, and coverage, provide cross-domain kinetic and non-kinetic effects, and enhance the survivability and sustainability of the future fleet. We will build future platforms with modernization in mind — hardware upgradeable and software updateable at the speed of innovation. We must build adequate space, weight, and power into our large long-life capital investments to support evolving sensors and weapons systems.” 

The NAVPLAN is available here.

ARLINGTON, Va. — A family of high-speed unmanned surface vehicles has been getting a lot of play in naval exercises over the last year, helping the U.S. Navy to determine future requirements for USVs in roles such as maritime domain awareness.

Maritime Tactical Systems (MARTAC) operates a fleet of USVs the Navy has used in experimentation in such areas as the U.S. Naval Forces Central Command region and Australia.

The MARTAC USVs are contractor-owned and contractor operated. The small, fast craft can be operated in any weather. They are equipped with a forward-looking infrared sensor and can be fitted with various other sensors as the mission demands, such as signals intelligence sensors and sonars.

The missions being performed this summer require the MARTAC craft to be “a remote surveillance platform that can get places quickly and hang out for extended periods of time with high-res cameras,” said Bruce Hanson, CEO of MARTAC, a company based in Melbourne, Florida.

Hanson told Seapower that MARTAC’s USV’s participated in several demonstrations in International Maritime Exercise 22 under the control of Task Force 59, the U.S. 5th Fleet’s task force for experimentation of unmanned systems. The USVs also participated in Autonomous Warrior 22 in Australia.

“We’re too small, too dumb to realize what we can’t do, so we did a lot of stuff that people said we really couldn’t do, then we’re pretty successful at it, so some people are going to realize that these things operate pretty well,” Hanson said. “There are no going to replace people, but they are going to augment and enhance capabilities by a lot.” 

Hanson said the company’s Devil Ray USV has extended persistence and would be a good partner with Saildrone’s USVs, which also have operated with Task Force 59. With its high speed, the Devil Ray can intercept a contact detected by a Saildrone.

The Devil Ray “can also protect the Saildrone,” Hanson said. “We can do things like picket lines …  [and] non-lethal interdiction.”

He said the ranges on MARTAC’s USVs is greater than 1,000 nautical miles. MARTAC has sent its USVs, which are designed to be autonomous but can be optionally manned, on autonomous runs from Florida to the Bahamas and back.

The USVs can be shut down remotely and reactivated on command. Hanson said during Autonomous Warrior the company demonstrated the autonomous “launch and recovery of a T-12 USV off of the back of a T-38 USV.” He said the boats work very well in swarms or groups.

MARTACs family of USVs include the man-portable Manta series — 12 feet or less — which are battery and solar electric-powered. The Devil Ray series is 24+ feet long and can be diesel-or gasoline-powered. The company is working on hybrid versions, including fuel cells for power, which give exceptional range.

The various MARTAC craft have a high degree of component interchangeability, Hanson said. They are payload agnostic. They can be operated by different control systems with the flick of a switch, enabling the same craft to be operated by different nation’s navies.

Hanson said the MARTAC USVs will be participating in future large-scale exercises, including one in 2023.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Marine Corps is focusing on retention of serving Marines as a way to mitigate the challenges of recruiting in today’s American society, the Corps’ assistant commandant said in recent public forums.

“Our recruiting challenges this year across the board are, in fact, difficult, which is why we’re so focused on retention rather than recruiting,” said Gen. Eric Smith, assistant commandant of the Marine Corps, testifying July 19 before the House Armed Services Committee subcommittee on Readiness. “We will make or come very close to making our recruiting mission in ’22. It will come to a degree at the expense of the pool that we have ready for ’23. Any time you have less time in the delayed entry program, you will have a higher attrition rate at recruit training, which is unacceptable. So, the focus for us is retention, and then ensuring that the American people see the value proposition of service in the United States Marine Corps and the United States military writ large.”

Smith addressed the retention and recruiting challenge the day before during a July 18 webinar hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies and the U.S. Naval Institute and sponsored by HII.

“We cannot recruit our way out of our future challenges, but we can retain our way out,” he said. “If we have an individual who seeks to serve their nation, makes it through entry-level training, gets additional training, we want to keep that person. Why would I want them to go away, and them I have to go seek another person? That just adds to the problem. So, you can’t recruit your way out, but you can retain your way out.”

Smith, whose son currently serves as a Marine recruiter, discussed the value of the Marine brand.

“People say, ‘Other services are giving really big bonuses, $50,000 to $60,000; why aren’t you?’” he said. “Our biggest bonus we ever give — and we don’t give many to enlisted — is about $8,000, because the bonus is, you get to call yourself a U.S. Marine. And that’s not false bravado; it’s who we are, a brand; that’s who we recruit.

“What we do is we make sure that we are out there as a face,” Smith said. “71% of our enlistment contracts are [from] face-to-face contact from seeing a Marine with operational experience who is tough, tested, fit, ready to fight, who’s out there in the public square to engage with students. What I think we can do and need to do for students and those who’ve already graduated is work closely with the Department of Education, administrators and educators to really enforce the value proposition of service.”

The assistant commandant said the Corps needs to “counter the narrative that the Marine Corps service in general is not fulfilling. We’re a valuable thing and it’s a valuable service to the nation.”

He pointed out a streamlining of the re-enlistment process has taken place.

“A year ago, there were 22 steps to take to re-enlist,” he said. “That’s down to one. We use technology to streamline [re-enlistment]. If you wish to re-enlist and you’re a qualified Marine, the answer is yes.”

Smith said the Corps should ask a potential re-enlistee, “What would it take to keep you? It’s about managing talent as opposed to, ‘Here’s the cookie cutter.’”   

He said the cookie cutter approach “will not work in the future environment where so many in our society are not qualified for enlistment or don’t wish to enlist.”  

WASHINGTON — The Russian invasion of Ukraine is showing the value of the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) in providing long-range precision fires while shifting positions to avoid counter-battery fire, a senior Marine Corps general said, showing its advantages over towed tube artillery and supporting the investment of HIMARS in Force Design 2030. 

“What we’re focused on is long-range fires, and longer-range fires is better,” said Gen. Eric Smith, assistant commandant of the Marine Corps, speaking July 18 during a webinar hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies and the U.S. Naval Institute and sponsored by HII. “You want to be able to out-stick your adversary. The introduction of HIMARS for us is absolutely vital, as is our NMESIS — Navy-Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System — [with the] Naval Strike Missile, which [has a] range in excess of 100 miles.  

“The capability that is brought by long-range fires is what we seek,” Smith said. “Towed artillery has a max range. It also has a mobility issue because towed things like boats, U-Hauls, things that are on a trailer are not as mobile as individual vehicles. That’s why the [HIMARS] is so good.”  

Smith that artillery must be highly mobile to avoid detection and targeting by drones. 

“You have to be able to fire and move immediately,” Smith said. “You no longer have six minutes, which is [the capability of] a really well-oiled gun crew from ‘pull last round’ till ‘you’re on the move.’ What we have to see now is that there are autonomous loitering munitions that are looking for that signature. And as soon as they see that signature — we call it a POO, a point of origin — they’ve already got lethal authority to strike that. You don’t have six minutes to move, whereas with a HIMARS you can shoot and be gone literally in seconds, less than a minute. So that is a key lesson learned for long-range fires. 

Smith said the artillery has to contend with ubiquitous, inexpensive drones and you have to drop your signature, either because you radiate or you are physically seen, because you are targeted almost immediately. 

Under Force Design 2030, the Marine Corps is increasing its HIMARS batteries and reducing its M777 155mm tube artillery batteries. Having decided initially to reduce the number of tube artillery batteries to five, experimentation led the Corps to increase the number of tube artillery batteries to seven. 

The Defense Department has shipped a number of HIMARS and M777 systems to the Ukrainian armed forces to aid in their resistance to the Russian invasion.